Fatigue
Melee combat is physically demanding. Every turn a unit is involved in melee, it becomes more Fatigued. As a unit's Fatigue increases, the unit becomes easier to hit in battle. An attacker has a greater chance of hitting a weak spot in the armor of a tired combatant. If the Fatigue exceeds 100, the unit falls dazed or unconscious to the ground and is unable to move, attack or defend. Strikes are certain to hit and armor provides little protection. Fatigue can be the death of even the bravest of warriors. Flying causes additional Fatigue. Battlefield spells cost a certain amount of Fatigue. Each spell has a listed fatigue cost which a caster incurs when casting that spell. For each skill level in the required path that the mage exceeds the minimum, he incurs 1 / (1 + (mage skill – minimum skill) of the listed spell fatigue. In other words, having an extra skill level means the mage suffers only ½ fatigue, two extra skill levels means he suffers only 1/3 as much, three extra is ¼, and so forth. Spell casters also incur fatigue equal to their base Encumbrance value + 2x Encumbrance value of any armor worn for each spell cast. This is not subject to reduction by skill bonuses. It is harder to make magical gestures in heavy armor The undead are immune to the fatigue caused by melee combat, but are still susceptable to spellcasting fatigue. Also using missile weapons does not accrue fatigue, so it is generally not a mechanic that affects archers. You can also accrue fatigue by fighting in either Cold 3 or Heat 3 provinces and units will have their encumbrance increased by 2. This can be prevented by having cold resistance 5 for cold 3 and fire resistance 5 for heat 3. It is worth noting that a mage that casts a spell that should put them at over 200 fatigue, puts them at 200 fatigue. This will make them fall unconscious until they get their fatigue under 100. Mages cannot damage themselves in this way, though if they are part of a communion, the slaves may get damaged. Ways to Reduce Fatigue Units recover fatigue at 5 + whatever their Reinvigoration is (typically 0) each round if they go over 100 fatigue. Reinvigoration is the statistic that counteracts fatigue. For every point of reinvigoration, a point of fatigue is subtracted every combat round. A unit is said to be fatigue neutral when their encumbrance statistic is equal to their Reinvigoration value. Such units do not get fatigued by combat in their prefered temperature scale, but can still accrue fatigue from spellcasting. Reinvigoration is an extremely rare ability for a unit to have naturally, but there are many ways to boost a unit's reinvig. The earth blessing can boost the reinvigoration of a sacred unit, and for this reason is a good bless for mages. Reinvig can also be gained by spells and magic items. * Summon Earthpower can boost a mage's Reinvigoration * Relief will boost the Reinvigoration of an entire army * The spell Reinvigoration can reset a mages fatigue to zero There are some magic items that will help to reduce Fatigue. These items grant reinvigoration. * The Girdle of Might * The Amulet of Resilience * The Heart of Life * The Boots of the Messenger * The Ranger's Boots * The Boots of Youth * Rainbow Armor * Robe of the Magi Lifedrain can also reduce fatigue. Ways to drain life include: * Soulvortex (Spell) * Leech (Spell) * Soul Drain (Spell) * Drain Life (Spell) * Bone Armor (Item; autocasts Soulvortex) * Standard of the Damned (Item, casts Drain Life) * Sunslayer (Artefact, casts Drain Life) * Wraith Sword (Weapon) * Hell Sword (Weapon) * Blood Thorn (Weapon) * Sceptre of Dark Regency (Artefact, Weapon) * Natural Attacks (Vampires, Lamias, Dakini, etc) Category:Attributes